I havenít read Part The After Effects Universe so keep in mind that Iím reading this as stand alone!

I love the way you've written this. He's aware of everything he'd done, even though he wasn't in control of his actions. That's horrifying especially the blood and murder that you talk about. I wonder how many others suddenly snapped out of the spell only to face what they'd done?

I hate that the guilt is torturing him like this because it's really and truly not his fault. There's nothing else he could have done. I want something to safely mitigate his pain. Not alcohol or removing his memories. He needs therapy. He needs professional help.

I hate that after his death, Voldemort still won. He still took Pius' life through all of this. I'm sure that people would celebrate his life. No matter how terrible the actions he was behind under the curse, there must be plenty of people that could understand and be sympathetic. So many lives were ruined post-war and I hate that I never even consider how hard it must have been to grieve, cope, and move on.

This was dark... and so amazingly written! Only you could ever thing of writing a story featuring Pius Thicknesse.

Your descriptions were simulataneously beautiful and chilling... how you bring a whole scene to life with your words is just inspiring. The description of the condensed water dripping to the floor, rolling the vial back and forth between his palms, Voldemort's stench - these painted a very vivid image while telling us Thicknesse's state of mind.

The description of his death was most difficult to read through. Suicide is such a horrible way to go, and I always believe we don't have the right to take our lives away - but the way you wrote it: his troubles, his haunting thoughts, his memories... it must have been so difficlut for him to live with what he had done. He wasn't able to forgive himself till the end - despite the fact that he was under the imperius curse. He was so disgusted with himself that he wanted an out. Such brilliance, such complexity... only you can do it Kaitlin.

Here's a pom-pom waving in your name!

K-A-I-T-L-I-N

Go Kaitlin!!

A Challenge Cheerleader

Author's Response: Hello My Dearest Challenge Cheerleader,

Thank you for dropping by!

I do love minor characters.

I love being able to visualize a scene and I always trying my hardest to make my description as vivid as possible.

Suicide is awful. I actually had a friend who killed himself a few years back and it was horrific. Regardless, I think that anyone who took their own life would have to be horribly conflicted. I tried my best to convey that in Pius in this story.

This was terrific. Pius? Of course. Why isn't there more on this man. First off, with the frivolous commentary, "firewhiskey on the rocks" sounds amazing.

Ok, for the rest of the tale - there is an awful lot I liked. I really understood Pius' guilt and possible confusion over the toxic haze of death that he brought. I felt for him as his feelings were overwhelmingly that of guilt. Whatever comments and praise I make about more objective aspects of writing, that is crucial, and I really respect your ability as a writer.

The structure of this reads like a pro. Formatted and flows wonderfully.

As for CC- the only thing I'd argue is that sometimes your prose becomes too "directive". As this is almost narration to the reader, it's less of a problem. But occasionally there are cases of things being stated when really I want them shown. When your going into the mind of Pius, things aren't necessarily exact and its clues and hints that detail his guilt or shame.

An example would be your terrific stuff about him cleaning and scrubbing furiously. I don't need it prefaced with the comments about his conscience being dirty. Instead, I think it would have been more effective to hint at his conscience being the involved player, and how that related to cleaning.

I think the wand and temple comments have a similar issue.

Oh I should add as a positive - I also loved the whole favourite leather chair thing. It bookmarked the story so well.

So yeah, I thought this was terrific, it was just a few subjective things for me.

I'm on my phone so I apologize if there are any glaring typos. And I'm feeling pretty dazed by this beautiful and terrifying story so again, I apologize for the typos. (Save me, autocorrect!)

As I said above, this is a beautiful and terrifying story. Beautiful because your descriptions jump off the page. Terrifying because... Well, I think that's obvious. Poor Pius. He didn't intend to kill those people but it's totally believable that he'd bear the weight of all those souls.

The bit that sticks in my brain the most is when you describe how Pius tries to scrub the scent of Voldemort for m his skin. Wow. I was disgusted and horrified at that part and it just worked so well. I don't know the feeling exactly but I can imagine it. It's like when j cook garlic and I can't get it off my hands... Anyway...

I honestly wanted someone to step in and save him. Whether that meant taking the potion from him or stepping in to just be there for him/remind him that he's okay. As he was dying I was till hoping someone was coming to save him. Such a sad loss.

So this was really good! Except that saying it like that feels wrong so let me start by saying: I hate what happens in this story. But I love how it's written. Does that make sense? As in, I'm trying to compliment you because you've written about a subject I despise and yet I still really like the story because of it's powerful message? Oh no, I'm rambling, I just want you to know that while the content hurts my heart, the writing is stellar.

Okay, so I've never seen a post-war Pius but you've done what I'd imagine him to be so much justice. I feel awful for the man and the pain he endured both under and after the Imperius Curse. You've written him so thoughtfully and the heartbreak is so real when you mention that he feels as if the ghosts of the people he has hurt have come back to haunt him.

I think that doing what Pius did in the end is an awful thing, as I've dealt with losing someone in that way, and while I have written about it, I hate reading about it, but your story does not have me getting mad at you for writing it and it doesn't have me hating the story and here's why:

You've given Pius a mental disorder. He obviously has PTSD. He's wracked with guilt after being forced to do things he never would have done. He's hallucinating and thinks he's hearing voices. You've shown a side of the aftermath of the Wizarding War that not many people do - the ugly, cruel side without any happy parts. Yes, people do tack on that the Hogwarts kids have nightmares, but they are almost always able to go about their day, not having a care in the world.

The thing I like that you've written is that for Pius, there is no escape. And for me, someone who would contemplate such a horrible thing only does it for one reason and one reason only - they are in unimaginable pain and to them, there is no way out. Without saying those words, you've shown the reader that Pius is going through exactly that. You've shown his struggle and his heartbreak and you've shown that no one was really there for him.

I'm fairly certain I've forgotten what else I was going to say (curse these tiny boxes), but this was a really great story, and I really liked it. The writing is powerful, the message is powerful, I just really loved it.

I don't even know what to say. This was so, so sad. I always wondered what happened to Pius after everything was over. Like how he coped, or if he even coped at all. I can totally see this being canon. I mean, really. How could you live with yourself after that? Even if you knew it wasn't your fault and you had no control over what you had done, I imagine it still would eat at your sanity.

I loved the little things in this. Like how he'd let the condensation drip off the glass and onto the floor, and how that once would have bothered him. But of course something so trivial would no longer upset him. He'd been through hell and back.

I absolutely loved your description of Voldemort's stench. I don't think I've ever read anything that really described how he smelled and I thought it was so brilliantly done. I just imagined the smell of old, sour, rotting meat when I read that and it was disgustingly perfect.

The one thing that really got to me was the whole shower thing. How he'd scrub himself raw, but still couldn't get the metaphorical dirt off of him. He really had no chance of ever being normal or happy again, did he? I feel like what happened to Pius was a fate worse than death, honestly. Ugh. So, so sad.

The death scene was written so, so well. It left me feeling all sorts of hopeless and uneasy, but also kind of relieved for him in a weird way. I felt terrible that his last thought was wondering if people would be happy that he died.

Kaitlin this was really, really well done. I can see why it's one of your favorites, because it's one of my favorites that you've written. The description was flawless and the emotions came across so strongly. I loved every bit of it. Thank you for recommending this one!

I feel so sorry for him and the things that he is haunted by since coming out of his Imperius Curse. You've done such a superb job at writing his thoughts and feelings and I couldn't help but feel them myself.

You used brilliant descriptions in this, carving them fantastically to show his anguish and pain. To show the horrors that he has witnessed and how he's struggling to deal with it.

You've done an amazing job at this, Kaitlin, and I felt Pius' pain and struggle with every word that you wrote.

You're such a talented writer and I love getting lost in your beautiful words.

Hi! I'm here! I'm sorry I'm late but I did not forget about this! (I hope it's okay I'm replying here instead of on the forums - I thought this deserved to have a review!)

So, first of all, I am so impressed by your choice of character! I never even thought about what it would be like for him after the war, but you really hit the nail on the head. It makes so much sense that he would struggle with guilt, PTSD, and loss of identity. Plus, he was this important person before he was imperiused, and now that he's free from the curse he has lost all of that stature and his reputation is destroyed.

The part about the shower is such an original detail to include. I also thought the death-like smell of Voldemort, and that the scent stuck with him, was chilling in the best way. I almost wanted him to be more dazed and unstable. (Not that this can really be called stable.)

I hope you won't mind if I make one suggestion for if you ever decided to edit this, which is to move the first sentence to just before "The moment that Voldemort died" - definitely a matter of opinion, though!

The last line is just fantastic. Outside of his control he became a villain, someone people root against. It's really so sad to imagine what that would be like.

My overall impression from this story is cold. He seems cold and empty, almost like he's already dead, so that (as you suggest) the end feels inevitable.